Welcome to Samos

Thursday  3rd October - 5.45am.

It was dark as we took off from Athens airport and as we settled down for the short hop to the island of Samos, which is situated on the eastern edge of the Aegean sea, we were treated to a spectacular sunrise. So much so that when we landed at Samos airport I was eager to capture the scene, so camera at the ready, I was about to snap away until Harry reminded me that we were at an airport in Greece which also housed military aircraft and that it may not be a good idea to take photographs. So no pictures to show you and I'm glad I wasn't spotted otherwise it might have been a completely different beginning to our latest adventure.

It's been quite an eventful year for us, We have sold our house - we came to realise that as beautiful as it was and how much we enjoyed living at Ravensdale, it was time to downsize. It was also impractical as we were spending more and more time away from home travelling in our motor home. So the decision was made and we were very fortunate to have had considerable interest and an early offer was made. Not wishing to rush into buying another house, we decided that we would wait until the "right one" came along, but that presented us with another problem - where do we live until we find another house until we head to warmer climes for the winter? Not a problem really, we just headed a couple of miles up the road and established ourselves at the local caravan site and spent the summer on a fantastic pitch overlooking the narrows on Loch Linnhe.

 The summer was kind to us in Scotland and the midges even kinder, it was hard to believe that we were in Fort William at times with temperatures reaching high in the 20's and no sign of the little blighters. Then came the decision where to go for our winter get-a-way. In previous years we had taken the motor home to southern Spain where the temperate climate has suited us both, but I suppose having been bitten by the travelling bug we were keen to try different experiences. The island of Samos is a place we have come to know well in recent years, having spent several holidays here so when Harry suggested spending the winter in Samos I readily agreed. We put the motor home into storage (we need somewhere to live when we go back to Scotland) and made plans. We had seen an apartment on our last visit to Samos and after a few enquiries to see if it was still available we booked our flights and here we were, two sleep deprived travellers just about avoiding arrest for espionage in a foreign land!

By Saturday, we were all but recovered from our long journey and ventured out to see what was happening. In the neighbouring fishing village of Ormos we were alarmed to see 4 naval frigates and even more alarming soldiers on the quayside rifles and all. Was there an invasion from nearby Turkey taking place? Had they heard about my attempts to take photographs at Samos airport? Or maybe we were both still tired and our over active minds were in overdrive. We were happy to learn that there was a naval/army exercise taking place.

The apartment is really lovely and has everything we need and I know we will be happy here. The first week has seen us settling in, meeting up with old friends and generally relaxing.  The coming months will see us exploring more of the island and going on lots of walks. I want to do some painting and sketching and Harry would like to try his hand at writing a children's book!

So if you want to share in our ramblings, please tune in and we will endeavour to update the blog at regular intervals, until then bye for now.

Views from inside and outside of the apartment